Follower who has wonderful end (1 Samuel 31:1-6)

Follower who has wonderful end (1 Samuel  31:1-6)

   

1. Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. ³ The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

⁴ Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.”

But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. ⁵ And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day.

 

Intro)

1. In year of 2003 Feb. Spaceship Columbia explored while coming back to Earth from the trip. Due to accident 7 people died.

   Spaceship was built to go from planet to planet. It has to be a top technology, but it explored on the way back. People did research on error that made it explosion. The main issue was something minor, which is rocket engine that separated has bit of contact with spaceship wing and few tiles that was covering wing has broken.

   That broken tiles caught on fire on the way back and it caused explosion.

 

1. Indeed our fundamental should be God. We have to remember that if we forget none can promise your future and happiness. 

 

 

Let’s talk about Samuel’s life as we go through bible verse and sermon, and learn from it.

 

  Body)

a) King Saul’s tragic end

1. King Saul had tragic death. Today’s verse 1 says, ‘fell slain on Mount Gilboa’

Before the battle Saul was rejected by God, so he went to shaman to get some luck to win a war.

Shaman called a spirit, but spirit cursed him. The day at the battlefield Saul lost his life and his 3 sons on the same day.   

1. After Saul passed away army of Israel has become miserable. 

    

   1 Samuel 31:7 -9 syas, ⁷ And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. ⁸ So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people.

 

When Philistines says, ‘strip the slain’ means they are here to take loot from them. Loot was bodies of Saul king’s 3 sons. They cut off Saul’s head and his body was hung on the wall of their castle. Reason why mentioning his body is that when you disobeyed God you will be shamed although your dead.

 

3.  people of Jabesh Gilead went to take Saul’s body down after they heard about how his body was displayed. In book of 1 Samuel 31:11-13 says,

¹¹ Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Long time ago they owe something from Saul, so they have repaid their debt like that. Thing is they had to walk 21km over the night to take down the body, burn the body, and buried they body under the tree.

 

 

B)Judge of God

1. Let’s take a look at how God thinks about Saul.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 says, ¹³ So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. ¹⁴ But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. 

What kind of person Saul is?

1. In 1 Samuel 9:2

² And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

2) Saul was humble man. 10:21, ²¹ When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri was chosen. And Saul the son of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him, he could not be found.’ He just look like a leader.

 

3)Saul was person who experience The filling of the Holy Spirit

 

⁹ So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² Then a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ And when he had finished prophesying, he went to the high place.

 

However, once Saul became a king he become greedy and holds pride. Later on his holy spirit left him and filled his emptiness with evil spirit. At the end Saul and his family fall.

 

Reason why he fell was because Saul lived a life that is away from God, and filled his life with jealousy. Maybe this was originated by David when he killed Goliath. on the way back woman sang for David like this (1 Samuel 18:7-8), ⁷ So the women sang as they danced, and said:

“Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”

⁸ Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”

1. Poet G.Eliot says human lives under 5 prisons.

    

1. Prisons are Selfish, Worry, Past, Desire, Hatred and Jealous. Saul didn’t know how to get out of it. At last it made him lose his happiness to worship God, and thankfulness towards God.

   

    3. 1 Thessalonians 5 says, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

 Galatians 5:22says, ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

 

 John 13:34,35 = ³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 Yes, Jealousy will bring meaningless fight and it will be disobeying God’s word. This kind of disobedience will leave a hole in our heart and let evil things to come in. At the end when hole gets big enough Satan will come inside..

 

Con)

1. Human’s life end has to be good. No matter how horrible life you lived if you come back to God and repent your sins God will forgive your past and make you a new person. No matter what you did in the past if you are not with God it wouldn’t matter. Think about what kind of person you are in front of God.

 

 2. Christianity is about now’s religion. God asks present. No matter how fancy our past was if you decide to turn back on God and holds Satan’s hand God will not accept you. Need to maintain good relationship with God. If relationship with God is not good you need to improve it. Do not turn around like Rot and his wife. Do not turn around because of world’s work. It is temptation of Satan to make you far away from God. Let’s work harder on repaying God’s grace and be thirsty for Holy Spirit, so we work harder and be loyal to our God. Hallelujah.

 

080617 by Ik sun Ahn